The Whistling

"And then, through the silence, the widow's whistle began to whine and a shape emerged, one that seemed cut out of something blacker than the night itself."

In 1860, alone following the deaths of her family, including beloved sister Clara, Elspeth Swansome takes a post as a nanny on a remote Scottish island, Skelthsea. It's autumn and Skelthsea is small but beautiful. When Elspeth arrives at the largest house in the island, Iskar, it is cold, tired and series. Her mistress, Miss Gillies, badly disfigured by a childhood accident, is quiet and distant. Her charge, nine year old Mary, is grieving the sudden death of twin brother William, and has ceased to talk. Elspeth is shocked but determined to do her job well and help Mary blossom. As autumn turns to winter it becomes apparent that all is not well at Iskar. Elspeth hears strange noises at night, footsteps, a lullaby and a chilling whistle. She discovers a number of tragedies have befallen the house and its occupants. Will she be next?

Centred on Elspeth, Iskar and the landscape and climate of Skelthsea, this is an atmospheric read. How hard life was for women during this period. I became fond of Elspeth, and Mary, as she struggled and as conditions deteriorated along with the supporting characters. Beautifully written, the fear builds as the novel progresses, revealing more of the characters' pasts and ultimately, the cause of the haunting. Perfect for Halloween, this is enthralling, chilling and spooky historic fiction, an impressive debut that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

The Whistling - Rebecca Netley

On arrival on Skelthsea, Elspeth discovers that Mary has not spoken since Williams death and no one will speak of him. Strange things happen at Iskar House and all is not well. There are priests holes, odd strange noises, the maid is menacing and then there is the whistling.

‘𝑩𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔.’

Something is amiss, something harnessed in the very air of Skelthsea -
rumours abound about William, that he was not a good child, witchcraft rears it’s head, and we are well into creepy spookiness!
I got a creeping prickling sensation reading this like something had got under my skin, I could not put it down and when I had to I couldn’t stop thinking about it and that does not happen very often. It was so atmospheric and ethereal, the sense of isolation is profound.

‘𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆.’

Slowly the islands begins to give up its secrets, are there ghosts, is there something supernatural happening, what happened to William and Hettie really, is Mary silent as she is involved? So many questions and gradually the answers are revealed.

‘𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆….𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓.’

I was entranced by this book, it really got it’s hooks into me.
There is something beguiling in the writing, making you believe that there is something other going on. I’m a scientist and that doesn’t happen to me usually!

I was totally caught, I could feel the cold and the fear, it’s so dark and twisting. There is a silent quality to this book, akin to a silent scream -
brilliantly spooky for the autumn

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Thanks to #netgalley for my copy of this book